The present invention relates generally to pharmaceutical methods and systems for ordering and receiving prescribed medication, and in particular to methods and systems for providing information regarding prescribed medication and verifying that the prescribed medication is the medication shipped.
Generally, a pharmacy compounds and dispenses medication based on order of a physician. A health care pharmacy includes other features not generally found in most general pharmacies. Some features include, special administrative features, provision of drugs for nursing stations, manufacturing of pharmaceutical preparations, preparation and revision of a hospital formulary, and monitoring the drug regimen of the individual patient, i.e., clinical pharmacy. However, the additional features provided by the health care pharmacy come with an increased cost in the complexity of the pharmaceutical operations.
To assist in the reduction of the complexity of pharmaceutical operations, pharmaceutical administrative systems have been implemented. The conventional pharmaceutical administrative system allows a pharmacy to receive an order from a health care provider, such as a hospital, and assist the pharmacy in filling the order. Also, some pharmaceutical administrative systems provide information regarding potential side effects of a particular medication. However, the conventional pharmaceutical administrative system is often cumbersome to operate and not intuitive to a pharmacist or technician operating the computer system.
Also, generally, the conventional pharmaceutical administrative systems do not have “built-in checks” to assist the pharmacist or health care provider in dispensing or preparing prescribed medication. For instance, medications such as intravenous (IV) solutions require a specific mixture of ingredients. The incorrect amount of one ingredient, the wrong ingredient added to the IV solution or a combination of ordered ingredients that has unintended results may prove to be hazardous to the patient receiving the medication. Also, once an IV solution is prepared by the health care provider pharmacy, the health care provider upon receipt of the IV solution relies on the label on the IV solution to identify the medication. In other words, no safeguard to verify the contents of the IV solution is provided to ensure that the medication ordered by the health care provider is “actually” the medication shipped.
Furthermore, conventional pharmaceutical administrative systems are often limited in the information provided to the pharmacy and the health care provider regarding the potential risks and problems associated with a particular medication. For instance, an IV solution may contain high concentrations of an ingredient that if conveyed to the health care provider may cause the health care provider to order another medication. Alternatively, the health care provider may just want to customize the concentrations or ingredients of a medication based on the information about the particular medication.
Accordingly, there is a need for pharmaceutical administrative systems and methods in providing flexibility, without increased complexity, to the health care provider pharmacy in ordering and dispensing medication. Also, the pharmaceutical administrative systems and methods need to verify and provide safeguards to the health care provider to ensure that the medication is properly received and administered. Furthermore, the pharmaceutical administrative systems and methods should provide relevant information for a particular medication and the ability to customize the medication.